Pressurised refill canister with an outlet valve

ABSTRACT

A pressurized refill canister containing a reservoir of composition including a propellant, and a non-metered refill outlet valve comprising a stem displaceable from a first position to a dispensing position against the action of a resilient member. The stem comprises a blind bore open at an outlet end and closed at the opposite end and a lateral bore in the side wall of the stem leading to the blind bore. The refill outlet valve further comprises an annular seal which surrounds the stem whereby, in the first position, the lateral bore is not in communication with the inside of the canister, and in the dispensing position, the lateral bore is arranged to move inside the canister with respect to the seal to open a flow path from the inside of the canister via the lateral bore and along the blind bore to the outlet end.

The present invention relates to a pressurised refill canister with anoutlet valve. It has been designed, in particular, for a refill for asimulated cigarette such as that disclosed in WO 2009/001078. However,it can also be used in other products which require a pressurised gasrefill.

In WO 2009/001078, a simulated cigarette is proposed which hasdimensions similar to those of a conventional cigarette. The cigarettehas a reservoir to receive a pressurised gas including a propellant. Thereservoir has a breath activated valve at one end (as described ingreater detail in WO 2011/015825, WO 2011/015826) and a refill valve atthe opposite end.

A refill pack which has the shape and size of a normal cigarette pack isprovided with a cylinder of refill gas and has a fill valve which isarranged to mate with the refill valve in the cigarette to periodicallyrefill the cigarette.

As described in WO 2009/001078, the device refill valve is a check valvewhich is biased into a closed position and the canister refill valvecomprises a hollow nozzle with lateral ports and which is alsospring-loaded. When the two are pushed together, the nozzle pushes thecheck valve away from its seat thereby initially venting the device.Subsequent pushing of the device onto the nozzle causes a shoulder onthe refill to engage and mate with an annular seat on the end of thedevice in order to provide a seal. Subsequent movement causes the nozzleof the canister fill valve to be depressed against its spring therebyopening a flow path from the refill into the cigarette. The nozzle onthe canister fill valve is provided with a pair of lateral outlets whichare generally perpendicular to the central bore through the nozzle. Thedevice valve seat, however, has a flat surface against which thecylindrical refill nozzle is pushed. Additionally, the refill nozzle hasa considerably smaller diameter and higher length than the device refillvalve inlet passage. This would result in a significantly highprobability of misalignment during filling due to slippage thusproviding a filling mechanism prone to damaging the refill nozzle.

Also relevant to the invention are refill valves used for butane gas torefill cigarette lighters and the like. Lighters are filled with butane,the expandability of which is significantly different from that of thepropellant based system with which the present invention is concerned.It is also of a significantly lower pressure than the pressure requiredto refill a propellant based simulated cigarette. With a propellantbased system, the propellant (such as hydrofluoroalkane (HFA)) willexpand as liquid leaves the reservoir thereby maintaining a constanthigh pressure within the reservoir. With a butane based system, as thebutane gas is depleted, the pressure in the reservoir drops. This meansthat they can be filled from a refill without necessarily needing tovent the chamber. This refill process for a butane system is typicallyassisted by the use of a relatively large cylinder which is held in aninverted configuration above the lighter in order to provide a gravityassist to the refill.

The connectivity between the lighter inlet valves and the outlet valveof a refill cylinder operate in a manner that allows it to perform thefunction of filling a reservoir without venting it. If the lighterreservoir gets filled with air due to an incorrect filling technique,the reservoir would need to be vented before filling. In this case, theventing procedure is the actuation of the refill valve using a devicesuch as a pen or a screw driver to open the valve and allow any trappedair to escape. U.S. Pat. No. 3,277,674 discloses a refillable lighterwith a vent path built into the valve of the lighter. There is nodisclosure of the nature of the refill valve.

Also of some superficial similarity to the present invention are certainpressurised metered dose inhaler (PMDI) valves such as that described inWO2008/071901. These have a nozzle in the form of a blind bore which isclosed at an innermost end and open at the opposite end with axiallyspaced lateral bores extending through the wall of the nozzle into theaxial bore. The body of the dispenser is provided with annular sealswhich surround the nozzle such that, as the nozzle is depressed into thedispenser, the inner lateral bore passes the inner seal thereby placingthe nozzle in communication with formulation in the canister and aidingin supply of formulation to the metering chamber. On further depressionof the bore into the dispenser, the inner lateral bore passes furtherbeyond the inner seal and a divider of the bore comes in line with theinner seal resulting in blockage of formulation flow from the dispenserinto the metering chamber through the inner bore. At the same time, theouter lateral bore crosses the outer seal placing the outer bore incommunication with formulation in the metering chamber. This results inflow of a metered quantity of formulation out of the chamber through thebore. In its unstressed configuration, the nozzle is biased into anoutermost position by a spring in which the outer lateral bore isoutside of the seal.

Such valves are not refill valves. Also, they are unsuitable for use inrefilling a simulated cigarette as the metering chamber is much smallerthan the cigarette. Refilling would therefore require the cigarette tobe pressed against the valve multiple times, which would not work inpractice, given the need to vent the cigarette prior to filling.

None of these documents is able to overcome the problems ofWO2008/001078 and there is therefore nothing in the art which representsthe robust and reliable valve for refilling a simulated cigarette at therelatively high pressures that it requires.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provideda pressurised refill canister containing a reservoir of compositionincluding a propellant, and a non-metered refill outlet valve comprisinga stem displaceable from a first position to which it is biased by afirst resilient member when no external force is applied to a dispensingposition against the action of the first resilient member, the stemcomprising a blind bore open at an outlet end and closed at the oppositeend and a lateral bore in the side wall of the stem leading to the blindbore, the refill outlet valve further comprising an annular seal whichsurrounds the stem whereby, in the first position, the lateral bore isnot in communication with the inside of the canister, and in thedispensing position, the lateral bore is arranged to move inside thecanister with respect to the seal to open a flow path from the inside ofthe canister via the lateral bore and along the blind bore to the outletend.

A refill valve with a lateral bore which moves in against the resilientmember into selective communication with the canister through a sealprovides a simple robust mechanism for achieving a non-metered refilloutlet.

Preferably the stem is slidable through the annular seal.

Preferably, the first resilient member exerts a force on the stem of atleast 5N, and preferably at least 10N when in the uncompressed state.This relatively high spring force is required if it is necessary tofirst overcome the spring force on the device to be refilled to providean outflow path.

Preferably, the radially outermost edge of the stem at the outlet end isrounded. This rounded edge provides an improved seal with a device to berefilled even in the event of a slight misalignment between the stem andthe device.

A further potential problem faced by a refillable device which isdesigned to contain an inhalable composition is the potential for thereservoir to be filled with an unauthorised substance. For example, ifthe device could be refilled from a butane gas refill, this could bedangerous for the user.

Preferably, therefore, the stem has a maximum outer diameter of greaterthan 3 mm and, wherein, at the outlet end of the stem, at least part ofthe wall of the stem extends inwardly from the outside diameter for atleast 50% of the radius.

This may be expressed in slightly different terms as the stem having amaximum outer diameter of greater than 3 mm and, wherein, within acircle defined at the outlet end having a diameter of 1.5 mm, there is afeature present.

In general, for butane gas refills and the like, the stem has arelatively small outer diameter and a relatively thin wall in order tomaximise the bore size and hence the flow rate for a given size of stem.

By providing a significantly larger outer diameter which also extendsinwardly to a significant extent for at least part of its circumference.It may have a relatively thick wall. A similar effect may be achievedwith an annular end cap which has the required dimensions.Alternatively, the stem has a localised feature, such as a single spokeor a cruciform extending across the bore, or a pin which is supported inthe stem and occupies a central portion of the stem at its outlet end.For the purpose of this invention, the pin, in this case, is consideredto be an extension of the wall.

In such an arrangement, the device can be dimensioned such that it willonly work with a stem which fulfils these requirements. A stem such asthe conventional butane stem which has an outer diameter which is toosmall will be unable to seal against the seat such that significantquantities of the composition will leak around the stem during therefill process rendering it useless as a refill device in practice.Secondly, any refill with a larger outer diameter, but which has aconventional thin wall will be able to engage with the seat in thedevice, but will not be able to press against the fill valve element asthere is nothing at the centre of such a stem which is in a position topress against the fill valve element. By having a thicker wall, the stemaccording to the fourth and fifth aspects of the invention is able topress against the fill valve element so that it correctly operates thedevice.

As far as we are aware, there are no refill canisters, at present, thathave a stem which has the above requirements. There is therefore nopossibility that the device could be refilled with a hazardous substancefrom any known refill canisters.

The composition preferably comprises a solvent which may be a monohydricalcohol and may further comprise a glycol and/or glycol ether. In thiscase, the ratio of monohydric alcohol:glycol or glycol ether by weightis from 6:1 to 1:1. Preferably, the composition comprises from 0.1 to 2%w/w proprolene glycol, based on the total weight of the composition.Preferably, the composition comprises from 0.5 to 1.5% w/w ethanol basedon the total weight of the composition.

The propellant is preferably a hydrofluorocarbon.

Preferably, the composition further comprises from 0.001% w/w to 0.45%w/w and more preferably 0.026% w/w to 0.084% w/w nicotine orpharmaceutically acceptable derivative or salt thereof, based on thetotal weight of the composition.

Further details and advantages of the composition are provided in ourearlier filed application WO 2014/033437.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provideda combination of a pressurised refill canister according to the previousaspects of the present invention in combination with a device to berefilled, the device comprising a reservoir with a fill valve and anoutlet valve, the fill valve comprising a seat to receive the outlet endof the stem, a valve element projecting into the seat and being biasedby a second resilient member having a spring force which is less thanthe spring force of the first resilient member into a position in whichit closes the fill valve, the valve element projecting into the seat tosuch an extent that, when the stem is inserted into the seat, itdisplaces the fill valve element to open a vent flow path around thevalve element and around the outside of the stem, the stem beingarranged such that further pressure urging the device and canistertogether causes the stem to land in the seat and the refill outlet valveto open, thereby creating a flow path from the canister into the devicereservoir.

This combination provides for a very simple refill operation as far as auser is concerned. They simply need to press the device against the stemin the refill canister with a smooth action. The device will thenautomatically vent as the fill valve element is displaced, whereupon theincreasing pressure applied by the user will open the refill outletvalve and refill the container. The user should hear and possibly see aspray of formulation venting. This then stops when the refill outletvalve is open. Further to this, the user would feel a slight push backwhen the device reservoir is full.

The device is preferably a simulated cigarette. Preferably, the deviceoutlet valve is a breath activated valve and/or the composition containsnicotine.

A portion of the seat facing the stem preferably has a generally partspherical surface which is complimentary with a rounded outermost edgeof the stem. This means that, even if the stem is slightly misalignedwith respect to the valve seat, the rounded surface of the seat and therounded edge of the stem will still make reliable contact therebyreducing the potential for any leakage between the stem and the seatduring the refill process.

In order to further facilitate the alignment of the stem with respect tothe seat, both the stem and the seat have parallel sided portions whichare complementary to one another. These parallel sided portions serve toguide the stem into the seat. Preferably, however, the length of theoverlap of the parallel sided portions when fully mated with one anotherextends for less than 8 mm and more preferably less than 3 mm.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provideda method of using a combination according to the sixth aspect of thepresent invention to refill the device, the method comprising the stepsof pressing the device against the stem of the outlet valve with a firstforce to open the device fill valve against action of the secondresilient member to vent the device reservoir via a path between thestem and the seat; and increasing the force with which the device seatis pressed against the stem to overcome the force of the first resilientmember to open a flow path from the refill canister into the devicereservoir and disengaging the device from the stem to close the refilloutlet valve and device fill valve.

An example of a refill canister, a combination of canister andrefillable device and method in accordance with the various aspects ofthe present invention will now be described with reference to theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing the refill canister and asimulated cigarette as well as the packaging;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the arrangement shown in FIG. 1 in aposition in which a user can withdraw the simulated cigarette from thehousing;

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 showing the cigarette in a storageposition;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view through the refill valve;

FIGS. 5A-5D are cross-sections showing the fill valve in the simulatedcigarette together with a side view of the refill valve is disengaged,venting, landed and fill positions respectively;

FIG. 6A is a perspective view of the fill valve;

FIG. 6B is an exploded view of FIG. 6A;

FIG. 7 is a diagram explaining the end dimensions of the outlet stem;and

FIGS. 8A-8D are cross-section showing cross-sections showing variousstem configurations.

The simulated smoking device comprises a simulated cigarette 1 which,other than its refill valve, is as described in WO 2009/001078. This hasa reservoir for an inhalable composition, a breath operated valve and arefill valve described below. Other than the refill valve, the cigarettewill not be described further here. Further modifications to thesimulated cigarette device are disclosed in our own earlier applicationsWO 2010/073018, WO 2011/015825, WO 2011/015826 and WO 2011/117580.

The composition of the reservoir is described in WO 2009/001085. Furtherdetails are provided in WO 2014/033437.

The remainder of the simulated smoking device is the refill device. Thiscomprises a main housing portion 2 which is a plastics moulding. This issurrounded by a thin card sleeve 3 on which is printed variousinformation such as promotional information. The size of the housing ispreferably similar to the size of a cigarette pack and may be adjustedto suit particular sizing formats, e.g., to be the size of pack of 10 or20 cigarettes. The housing 2 has a recess 4 in which is contained refillcanister 5 of pressurised refill gas. The canister 5 has an outlet stem6 at its lowermost end. With the canister 5 in the recess 4, the nozzle6 sits above refill outlet orifice 7. The simulated cigarette device 1is refilled by being pressed against the refill outlet orifice 7 asdescribed in detail below. The canister may instead simply be a standalone cylinder which could then have a larger capacity as it is notconstrained by needing to fit within a cigarette pack sized housing.

In general terms, the housing 2 is divided into two halves with one halfcontaining the refill gas canister 5 and the other part containing ahinged drawer 8 with a release mechanism 8 biased by a spring 10. Thisarrangement forms the subject of WO 2011/095781.

This disclosure relates to improvements to the design of the refillvalve of the refill canister 5 as will be described below with referenceto FIG. 4 and/or the fill valve of the simulated cigarette 1 describedbelow with reference to FIGS. 6A and 6B. The interaction between the twoin the refill operation is illustrated in FIGS. 5A-5D.

The refill valve 20 of the refill canister 5 is a non-metered valvewhich is modified from the valve of a pressurised metered dose inhaler.FIG. 4 shows the end cap 21 of the refill canister 5 which has anannular configuration and surrounds the valve. Within the cap is anouter annular seal 22 and an inner annular seal 23 which, in the PMDIvalve design form the ends of a metering chamber.

The valve stem 6 is slidable within the seals 22, 23 against the actionof a spring 25 which provides a biasing force of greater than 5N andpreferably greater than 10N in the at rest position shown in FIG. 4. Thevalve stem 6 is provided at its outlet end with an axial bore 24 whichextend axially inwards from an outlet 26. A lateral bore 27 extendsradially outwardly from the axial bore 24 to the outer periphery of thestem 6. In the at rest position shown in FIG. 4, lateral bore 27 iscovered by the outer annular seal 22. The seal between the outer seal 22and the outer periphery of the valve stem 26 prevents flow out of therefill canister.

In the metered valve on which this design is based, the valve stem isfurther provided with an outer periphery which seals with the innerannular seal 23 with a bore through the stem which provides selectivecommunication with the metering chamber between the annular seals inorder to charge the chamber. In the present case, however, the stem 6has a non-circular cross-section in the vicinity of the inner annularseal 23 such that it does not seal with the inner annular seal and thechamber between the two annular seals 22, 23 is always open to the mainreservoir within the refill canister 5. This renders the valve anon-metered valve.

The refill canister 5 is designed to operate in the invertedconfiguration as shown in FIGS. 1 to 4. It could, however, alternativelyoperate the opposite way up if a dip tube were provided to communicatebetween the bottom portion of the canister and the refill valve 20.

When the outlet stem 6 is depressed, once the lateral bore 27 passes theouter seal 22, this opens a flow path from the inside of the refillcanister through the lateral bore 27 and along the axial bore 24 to theoutlet 26.

As shown in FIG. 4, the radially outermost edge of the outlet end of theoutlet stem 6 has a curved profile 28 for the reasons described below.

The fill valve 35 in the cigarette 1 will be described with reference toFIGS. 6A and 6B.

The cigarette 1 has an inhaling end 30 associated with a breathactivated valve (not shown), such that sucking on the inhaling end 30opens the breath activated valve allowing a user to inhale the contentsof the reservoir 31. At the opposite end to the inhaling end 30 is thefill end 32 which is provided with the fill valve 35 as shown in FIGS.6A and 6B.

The fill valve comprises a cage 36 which supports the remaining valvecomponents within the fill end 32 of the reservoir 31. The cage has anumber of large lateral openings 37 which allow open communicationbetween the inside of the cage 37 and the remainder of the reservoir 31.

Contained within the cage is a second spring 38 which biases a valveelement 39 into a closed position as shown in FIG. 5A. The valve element39 has a circular base 40 from the centre of which of which a spigot 41projects upwardly. The lower surface of the base 40 is arranged toreceive the top of the spring 38, while the upper annular surface 42receives an annular sealing element 43 which surrounds the lower part ofthe spigot 41. As best seen in FIG. 5A, the spigot 41 has a number ofaxially extending flow channels 44 which begin above the annular sealingelement 43 and extend to the uppermost surface of the spigot 41.

The fill valve 35 is completed by end cap 45 which has a lowermostannular surface 46 which seals with the upper face of the annularsealing element 43. The end cap has a central opening 47 through whichthe spigot 41 projects. The central opening 47 opens out into agenerally part spherical seat 48 which further opens out into acastellated region which comprises a number of radially inwardlyextending projections 49, the inner faces 50 of which have a partcylindrical configuration to provide a guideway for the outlet stem 6 asdescribed below. Each face 50 has a tapered lead in surface 51.

In order to refill the reservoir 31 of the cigarette 1, the fill end 32of the cigarette 1 is presented to the outlet stem 6 of the refillcanister 5 as shown in FIG. 5A. At this time, the fill valve 35 of thereservoir 31 is closed as the spring 38 urges the valve element 39 intoits uppermost position in which the annular sealing element 43 sealsagainst the lowermost annular surface 46 on the end cap 45. Similarly,the refill outlet valve 20 is closed as the lateral bore 27 is sealed bythe outer annular seal 22.

As the cigarette 1 is pressed into the stem 6, initially, the flaredlead-in surfaces 51 of the projections 49 in cooperation with the curvedprofile 28 on the outlet stem 6 assist the user in lining the cigarette1 with the stem 6. Subsequently, the cylindrical face of the stem 6engages with the inner faces 50 of the projections 49 thereby ensuringthat the cigarette 1 is in general axial alignment with the stem 6. Anyslight misalignment between the cigarette 1 and the stem 6 isaccommodated, to some extent, by the generally spherical nature of theseat 48 in the end cap 45 and the curved profile 28 on the end of thestem 6 as described below.

As shown in FIG. 5B, as soon as the stem 6 engages with the uppermostsurface of the spigot 41 of the valve element 39, it begins to move thevalve element 39 downwardly. This is because the second spring 38 exertsa weaker force than the first spring 25 so that the valve element 39begins to move before the stem 6 is displaced. This moves the annularsealing element 43 away from the lowermost annular surface 46 thusopening a vent flow path from the reservoir, around the base 40 of thevalve element 39, between the annular sealing element 43 and thelowermost surface 46 of the end cap 45, along the flow channels 44 andout of the cigarette 1.

Once the cigarette 1 is engaged to the extent that the curved profile 28lands in the seat 48 as shown in FIG. 5C, the next phase of openingbegins. In this position, the cigarette can continue to vent as the seat48 does not form a perfect seal with the curved profile 28 at the end ofthe stem 6. As the valve element 39 cannot be depressed further,application of additional pressure to the cigarette 1 will now cause thestem 6 to be pushed upwardly into the refill canister 5 against theaction of the first spring 25 until the lateral bore 27 is movedinwardly of the outer annular seal 22. This opens a refill flow pathfrom the refill canister 5 along lateral bore 27 and axial bore 24,through outlet 26, along flow channels 44 and into the reservoir 31 viathe space between the annular sealing element 43 and the lowermostannular surface 46 of the end cap 45. During this period, little or noflow passes through the interface between the seat 48 and the end of thestem 6 as, although, as mentioned above, this surface is not sealed, theabove mentioned refill flow path provides a much larger and more directflow path for the composition from the reservoir such that any leakagearound the valve stem is kept to a minimum. Further, the sphericalnature of the seat 48 and curved profile 28 at the tip of the stem 6ensures that this leakage is kept to a minimum even if the cigarette 1is angularly off-set to a small degree from the axis of the stem 6.Larger angular off-sets are generally prevented by the projections 49engaging with the stem.

When the reservoir 31 is full of composition, the user will feel aslight push-back as the pressure in the reservoir 31 equalises with thepressure in refill canister 5 thereby preventing further flow. They thenpull the cigarette 1 away from the canister 5 which quickly causes thetwo springs 25, 38 to return their respective valves to the closedposition.

The arrangement at the end of the outlet stem 6 will now be describedwith reference to FIGS. 7 and 8.

The dimensions required at the end of the outlet stem are bestillustrated defined with reference to the prior art. A nozzle of thekind used for a butane gas refill, has a relatively small externaldiameter and a thin wall. The approach taken in the present case is tohave a much larger external diameter and a relatively thick wall, or atleast some other feature present towards the central region at the endof the nozzle. The reason for this is apparent, for example, from FIG.5B. A relatively large outer diameter is required in order to reliablyengage with the seat region 48. The presence of a thick wall or someother feature towards the central region of the end is necessary inorder to bear against the top of the spigot 41 to depress the valveelement 39. If a conventional butane gas refill is used to try to fillthe cigarette, its relatively thin nozzle would not contact the seat 48and would therefore provide a leak path around the stem. This wouldrender it useless in practice. Also, if a stem with a larger outerdiameter, but a conventional wall thickness were to be used, this wouldbe able to engage the seat 48 adequately. However, the open space at thecentre of the stem would be so large that it would simply fit over thespigot 41 and would not be able to depress it.

The current outlet stem has an outer diameter D of at least 3 mm asshown in FIG. 7. For the purpose of calculating this diameter D, thecurved profile 28 at the outlet end is disregarded. Within the circle ofdiameter D, a second concentric circle with a diameter of d of 1.5 mm isdefined within which there must be something present at the end face ofthe nozzle. In other words, at the end of the nozzle, if there is aninner circular diameter d with a diameter of 1.5 mm which has no featurepresent, it will not be able to engage with the spigot 41.

The preferred dimensions for the nozzle 6 are an outer diameter of 3.15mm to 3.20 mm, an inner diameter of 1.10 m to 1.30 mm.

FIG. 8A shows a nozzle with a relatively thick wall 60. The wall is ofsufficient thickness that it extends inside the inner circle d.

A similar effect is achieved in FIG. 8B which has a thin walled tube 61with an end cap to provide the required dimensions.

FIG. 8C has a similar thin wall, but has a pin 62 supported at theoutlet end by spokes 61. As is apparent from FIG. 8C, the pin 62 ispresent within the inner circle d and would be able, in use, to engagewith the spigot 41.

Finally, in FIG. 8D, a crossbar 63 extends diametrically across the endof the nozzle. This may alternatively be a cruciform or some otherintermittent feature which is able to engage with the spigot 41.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A combination of a canister, and asimulated cigarette to be refilled, the refill canister comprising: Areservoir of composition including a propellant and a non-metered refilloutlet valve comprising a stem displaceable from a first position towhich it is biased by a first resilient member having a spring force ofat least 10N when no external force is applied to a dispensing positionagainst the action of the first resilient member, the stem comprisingblind bore open at an outlet end and closed at the opposite end and alateral bore in the side wall of the stem leading to the blind bore, therefill outlet valve further comprising an annular seal which surroundsthe stem whereby, in the first position, the lateral bore is not incommunication with the inside of the canister, and in the dispensingposition, the lateral bore is arranged to move inside the canister withrespect to the seal to open a flow path from the inside of the canistervia the lateral bore and along the blind bore to the outlet end, thesimulated cigarette comprising: a reservoir with a fill valve and anoutlet valve, the fill valve comprising a valve element and a seat toreceive the outlet end of the stem of the refill outlet valve of thecanister, the valve element projecting into the seat and beingdisplaceable from a closed position in which it closes the fill valve ofthe simulated cigarette by the biasing force of a second resilientmember having a spring force which is less than the spring force of thefirst resilient member into an open position in which the valve elementis displaced by the stem of the refill outlet valve of the canisterinserted into the seat of the fill valve element to open a vent flowpath around the valve element and around the outside of the stem of therefill outlet valve of the canister, the stem being arranged such thatfurther pressure urging the simulated cigarette and canister togethercauses the stem to land in the seat of the fill valve and the refilloutlet valve to open, thereby creating a flow path from the canisterinto the simulated cigarette reservoir.
 2. A combination according toclaim 1, wherein a portion of the seat facing the stem has a generallypart spherical surface which is complementary with the outermost edge ofthe stem.
 3. A combination according to claim 1, wherein both the stemand the seat have parallel sided portions which are complementary to oneanother.
 4. A combination according to claim 3, wherein the length ofthe overlap of the parallel sided portions when fully mated with oneanother extends for less than 8 mm.
 5. A combination according to claim1, wherein the pressure differential between the first and secondresilient members in their unstressed state is 15N.
 6. A combinationaccording to claim 1, wherein the refill reservoir pressure, thedimensions of the flow path and the capacity of the reservoir of thesimulated cigarette to be filled are such that, with the refill canisterand the simulated cigarette to be filled fully engaged, the devicereservoir will fill in less than 10 seconds.
 7. A method of using acombination according to claim 1, to refill the simulated cigarette, themethod comprising the steps of pressing the simulated cigarette againstthe stem of the outlet valve with a first force to open the simulatedcigarette fill valve against action of the second resilient member tovent the simulated cigarette reservoir via a path between the stem andthe seat; and increasing the force with which the simulated cigaretteseat is pressed against the stem to overcome the force of the firstresilient member to open a flow path from the refill canister into thesimulated cigarette reservoir and disengaging the simulated cigarettefrom the stem to close the refill outlet valve and simulated cigarettefill valve.